JP2727756B2 - Vending machine control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial applications]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for taking action when a failure occurs in which a product selection push button of a vending machine for selecting a purchased product is kept on and left on.

[Prior art]

When a product selection push button (hereinafter, simply referred to as a push button) of a vending machine does not return to an off state while being turned on due to a failure, a product corresponding to the push button is carried out as soon as a customer inserts a coin. In order to prevent such a situation, a pushbutton that has been left on during standby for sale is detected and stored, and the sale of a product in a product column (storage / unloading unit set for each product) corresponding to the pushbutton is stopped. An apparatus for performing the above is known from Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 58-177473 or Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 90-5683.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-described conventional apparatus, the corresponding sellable lamp (a lamp for displaying a product column satisfying the sales conditions at the time of payment) is stopped for the push button that has been left on (see FIG. 58). -178383), sold-out lamp (a lamp that displays the product column that has become unsold)
Or (Kyogi 90-5683). However, there are many other factors that cause the sellable lamp not to light or the sold-out lamp to light. For example, factors that cause the sellable lamp not to light include a mistake in setting the selling price, a shortage of change, and a running out of lamp. In addition, factors that cause the sold-out lamp to be lit include a sold-out product, a failure of the product carrying-out mechanism, and heating or cooling of the product. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the failure of the push button from the state of the sellable lamp or the sold-out lamp. Further, it is conceivable to separately provide a failure display in which the push button is kept on, but this increases the cost. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve such a problem and to provide a vending machine control device capable of easily determining a failure of a push button.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object is shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. That is, in the sales standby state, the on / off states of all the push buttons are input to the push button input means. When the ON state of the push button is input to the push button input means, the ON time of the push button is counted by the timer means, and whether or not the push button is ON is detected from the count value. The pushbutton is detected by the means, and if it has been left on, the pushbutton is stored in the on / off pushbutton storage means. On the other hand, if there is a deposit, regardless of the on / off state of the push button, a sellable column determination unit determines a sellable product column from sales conditions such as a deposit amount, a sale price of the product, presence of change, presence / absence of sold out, and the like. Then, the merchandise column determined to be salable is stored in the salable column storage means, and a salable display is made on the salable column display means (sellable lamp or the like) corresponding to the merchandise column. Here, when the push button is pressed by the customer, the unloadable product determining means pushes the push button on and off based on the information from the push button input means, the on / off push button storage means and the sellable column storage means. It determines that a salable product column other than the product column corresponding to the button can be carried out, and causes the product carrying mechanism of this product column to carry out the product.

[Operation] In the sales standby mode, the state of each push button is monitored, and if the push button has been on for a certain period of time, the push button is turned on and stored as a push button. Then, when there is a deposit, the sellable lamp is turned on regardless of the state of the push button for the product column for which the sales conditions are satisfied. Thereafter, when the push button is pressed, the push button is turned on and released, unless the push button is stored, and the sale is performed. If the push button is recorded, the sale is not performed. As a result, if there is a push button that has been left on, even if the sellable lamp is lit, even if the push button is pressed, sale is not performed, so that the push button can be determined to be faulty.

【Example】

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit for controlling the entire vending machine, and a CPU for controlling by a control program stored in a ROM (not shown) and necessary data. Includes RAM3 for primary storage. Reference numeral 4 denotes a coin mech for counting and sorting inserted coins and outputting payment information to the control unit 1, reference numeral 5 denotes a sellable lamp, reference numeral 6 denotes a push button, and reference numeral 7 denotes a product discharge mechanism built in each product column. FIG. 3 shows the contents of the data relating to the present invention in the RAM 3 described above. The state of the push button 6, the timer count value, and the push of the push button 5 are stored in the areas 3a to 3d for each of the product columns 1 to n. Release information and sale availability are stored. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are flow charts showing the control operation in the sales standby state and after payment is made. Then, the control operation of the control unit 1 will be described along this flowchart. In the customer waiting mode of FIG. 4, it is checked whether a coin has been inserted into the coin mech 4 (step
S1) If there is no payment, it is checked whether the push button is on for each product column sequentially (steps S2 → S3). If it is on, the timer starts counting (step S4),
If the ON state continues for a certain period of time (for example, one minute) (YES in step S5), the push button 6 of the product column is kept ON and set in the RAM 3 (step S6). If it is not on in step S3, the timer is reset (step S7), and the release is reset (step S8).
In this way, the check of the ON / OFF state of the push button 6 is repeated for all the product columns (steps S9 → S10). If there is a deposit in step S1, the process moves to the deposit mode of FIG. That is, in FIG. 5, if there is a payment in step S11, a sellable product column is determined from predetermined sales conditions (step S12), and a sellable lamp of the product column (denoted by APi in FIG. 5). 5 is turned on (step S13). At this time, if the product column for which the push button 6 is kept pressed can be sold, the light is turned on. Next, it is checked whether or not the push button 6 has been pressed (pressed) (step S14), and if there is a pushed push button 6, it is stored in the RAM 3 as a release button. Is checked (step S15). If the product column is not released, it is checked whether the product column can be sold (step 16). If the product column can be sold, the product is delivered to the product delivery mechanism 7 (step S17). If it is determined in step S15 that the button is a push-release button, sales are not performed. As described above, in the embodiment, the on / off state of the push button 6 is constantly monitored in the sales standby state, and if there is the push button 6 that has been on for a certain period of time, the push button 6 is stored as a push / release button. Then, if there is a deposit, the sellable lamp 5 of the sellable product column is turned on regardless of the state of the pushbutton according to the sales conditions, but the sale is not performed even if the pushbutton 6 stored as the pushbutton is pressed. . As a result, if there is a push button 6 that does not carry out the product even when pressed even though the sellable lamp 5 is turned on, it can be determined that the push button 6 is malfunctioning. In the embodiment, an example is shown in which a timer is provided for each push button 6 (FIG. 3). However, the state of each push button 6 is repeatedly checked during counting by using one timer.
It may be configured such that if the ON state continues several times, it is determined that the ON state is maintained.

【The invention's effect】

According to the present invention, the push button stored as the on-off push button is not sold, so that even if money is inserted in the on-off state, the trouble of the product of the push button being immediately discharged is eliminated. In addition to this, the sellable lamp is turned on regardless of the state of the pushbutton, so that even if the pushbutton is pressed, no sale is performed, so that it is easy to determine that the pushbutton is broken. In addition, since this is the same phenomenon as a failure in which the push button is not turned on, there is an effect that two failure modes in which the push button is kept on and the push button is not turned on can be analyzed by the same method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a functional block diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a memory configuration diagram of a RAM in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is an embodiment of the present invention in a sales standby mode. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the example, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart in the deposit mode. 1 ... Control unit, 2 ... CPU, 3 ... RAM, 4 ... Coin mech, 5 ... Sellable lamp, 6 ... Product selection push button, 7 ... Product unloading mechanism.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A push button input means for inputting an on / off state of a product selection push button in a standby state for sale, and a timer means for counting the ON time of the product selection push button for which the ON state is inputted to the push button input means. On-release button detection means for detecting the product selection push-button which is kept on from the count value of the timer means, and on-release detection which is detected by the on-release button detection means. ON / OFF push button storage means for storing a product selection push button, sellable column determination means for determining a sellable product column by depositing regardless of the ON / OFF state of the product selection push button, and sellable column determination Means for storing the product column which can be sold by the means, and a sellable column for displaying the product column which can be sold. Display means, and when the product selection push button is pressed, the product selection push button which is on and released based on information from the push button input means, the on / off push button storage means and the sellable column storage means. A control device for a vending machine, further comprising: a dischargeable product determination unit for discharging products from the sellable product column other than the product column corresponding to the button.